Fuji Landscapes | MiKS Media Photography

Elk Island in the sun and rain – Landscape Photography

by Mac Sokulski | Oct 8, 2014 | Fuji Landscapes, Fuji X, Landscape

Having beautiful weather is not always good for landscape photography. The clear blue skies, are great for camping and general merriment of being outside. Personally I prefer a little more things to be happening in the sky above. This though was a perfect day. Rain, sun, clouds rolling in and out of existence. It was almost a matter of pointing the camera in the right direction and just capturing everything. Having a wide angle Fuji 10-24mm f4 lens helped as well. Most of these images are HDR or high dynamic range. I feel that shooting HDR gives me a lot more control over light, specially when shooting sunsets, and pointing the camera towards the sun. I don’t shoot on a tripod, as I find it too restrictive. All are hand held. Enjoy 🙂

Rainy day in Jasper – Alberta landscape photography

by Mac Sokulski | Oct 3, 2014 | Fuji Landscapes, Fuji X, Landscape

Going to the mountains is always associated with a risk of having rain, cold, and not a very pleasant day for photography. Specially when you have to drive about 4 hours. Yes there are weather forecasts, but as more weather “forecasting” becomes almost common place (all you have to look is your smart phone and there are hundreds of apps trying to tell you what the weather is going to be like), the quality of said forecasts diminishes exponentially. So getting up in the morning for the nice long drive to the mountains is always associated with a bit of a surprise of what mother nature can throw at you.

This was exactly one of those days. The clouds hung low, spitting rain from time to time, and then all of a sudden a happy sun would peek out for few minutes. Actually in my opinion is a perfect day for photography in the mountains. Much better than clear blue sky with no cloud in sight. It gives a lot more interest to the beauty of the Rocky Mountains in Jasper Alberta.

Going on trips like that with a fellow photographer (my wife Kasia) brings a bit of a challenge. It’s quite easy to get almost the same images from a trip. Even though we both have different camera systems, she shoots mostly with Sony NEX, I shoot with Fuji X, the lens line up for both is very similar, and does get into the problem of capturing almost the same landscape images. This is where the thinking begins, and not just being trigger happy with the beautiful scenery. After a trip like that I usually end up with far less images. Which is a plus… less editing, less storage needed on the computer, and better quality images overall… I think 🙂

Alberta is Beautiful – Fuji Landscape Photography

by Mac Sokulski | Oct 1, 2014 | Fuji Landscapes, Landscape

Living in Alberta one could say that the flat prairies are kind of boring. They can be, yet at the same time they can be quite exciting. The prairies are not that flat, and depending which direction you go from Edmonton the landscape varies. If you go east, you will encounter typical flat prairies with huge skies. Go west and the landscape becomes hills and valleys, with lakes and streams. This time my a wife and me, decided to wonder east. There were several storms passing by as the sun was setting. We needed big skies. It was a little bit urgent, since we left late, and did not have a destination in mind. At the last moment we found a spot that looked half decent from the road, and since we were running out of time, we had to do with what we got.

I shoot primarily with Fuji X cameras now. After ditching my Canons a few years back, I haven’t looked back. The Fuji 10-24mm F4 lens that was used to capture these images, is one of the best lenses I have used to create landscape photos.

Enjoy!

Alberta Canola Sunset

by Mac Sokulski | Aug 26, 2014 | Fuji Landscapes, Landscape, Nature, People

This year wasn’t very good for sunsets. Huge forest fires in the NWT were at fault, bringing smoke and haze. So far there were only a couple good days, and most of the time the beautiful fluffy clouds would burn away by sunset, leaving empty blue skies. This is was one of those days. The canola fields in Alberta, creating wonderful contrasts with the big blue skies, it’s always a great sight. Unfortunately these types of photos were done a million times and more. So what to do with a boring sky and a subject that has been photographed to death. Well one solution is to pack up your gear and go home, or choose a different lens, open the aperture for max depth of field and try something different. If the conditions are not right, and quite often in landscape photography you are relying on miss weather with her capricious nature, you run with the bulls as the saying goes. Look for opportunities, and don’t wait for them to present themselves… actively look for them. It will keep your mind sharp, and your eyes open to the world. There will always be an interesting subject 🙂

Alberta canola field sunset portrait of a woman

Canada Day Fireworks in Edmonton

by Mac Sokulski | Aug 7, 2014 | Fuji Landscapes, Landscape, People, Urban

I was debating with myself, if I should post these, as unfortunately it’s a perfect illustration of a mistake. One big mistake, of being lazy. Almost every year we venture into the Edmonton downtown to view the spectacular fireworks display on Canada Day. This year, we figured we are going to try a different venue. So we got there a few hours before the show, and were greeted with huge masses of people. Obviously we weren’t there early enough. After about 30 min of walking and searching for a spot, we settled on a little grassy area that was promising a fairly good view of the fireworks. The sun was slowly setting, and I took a couple of shots, to see how everything worked. Then we set up our cameras on tripods, and settled it to way. As we waited more and more people started to gather, and most were incredibly rude. No care of others, and if I didn’t tell the kids to stand up, they would have been stepped on. Some decided to settle right in front of us, blocking the view completely. Since I didn’t want to get into any trouble, I just moved my tripod. The show was quite spectacular, but here is the big mistake I made… I took the wrong lens. I thought that from the new location, we will be close enough for me to use the 8mm fisheye lens. Unfortunately I was wrong, and in hind sight, I should have known. Well at least we enjoyed the show, and I did manage to rescue a few images.

Alberta Canola Sunrise at Villeneuve Airport – Landscape photography

by Mac Sokulski | Aug 5, 2014 | Art, Fuji Landscapes, Landscape

Early morning. Hordes of mosquitoes, tall wet grass, and me, frolicking with my Fuji X-Pro1 camera and a Fuji 10-24mm lens, trying to get a good angle on a beautiful Alberta sunrise. I stopped on the highway near the back of Villeneuve airport, trying the catch the Boing 737 parked there in the middle of a canola field. I really like the juxtaposition of a big passenger jet just sitting there in a farmer’s field. The whole story is that the new Edmonton Aviation Museum is going to be built on that spot, and the jet is the first to arrive at the spot. I wanted the images before any buildings or construction would ruin a beautiful view. The fog that was rolling in from the fields that morning was an added bonus. Since Fuji introduced the quite amazing 10-24mm f4 lens, it has been almost permanently attached to either the X-Pro1 or the XT1 Fuji cameras. I am primarily a landscape photographer, although I do not shy from other forms of photography. Alberta is perfectly suited for landscape photography. Not only there are flat sea of prairies, but mountains, lakes and huge huge skies. It’s a beautiful place, and living here gives me an opportunity to capture it. The added bonus of not having to travel very far, is a blessing, specially on those early summer mornings.